Shane L. Larson

Clarkson University, October 17, 12:30 pm

Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals, Zoom-Whirl Orbits, and Effective Potentials

Gravitational wave astronomy expands the astrophysical messengers available to astronomers to probe cosmic phenomena. Strongly gravitating systems can undergo unusual orbital trajectories, as is the case for “extreme mass ratio inspirals,” observable in the millihertz gravitational wave band by gravitational wave detectors like LISA. These sources can exhibit “zoom-whirl” orbits, which make complicated waveforms that are useful for mapping out the gravitational structure of the system. Zoom-whirl behavior can be intuitively understood in the context of effective potentials, which should be familiar to students from classical orbital theory in mechanics. Here we demonstrate and explain zoom-whirl orbits using effective potential theory around Schwarzschild black holes, and present an interactive tool that can be used in classroom and other pedagogical settings.